Got bias?
The human brain averages about 60,000 to 80,000 thoughts a day. That is about 45-55 thoughts per minute, per person, per day. Out of those thoughts, are people influencing them? Or are they 100% your own? Chances are, both your own and others’ thoughts have influenced the biases in your decision making, and the power these decisions have can be detrimental to your work place. Biases follow us around just like glasses stay on our face, and unfortunately, at times, we apply them in the interview process. In a world where talent is becoming scarcer, make sure bias is not getting in the way of a great hire. Following are some tools to remove bias from the hiring process:
Tech to the rescue!
Gapjumpers: Advertising itself as similar to the concept on “The Voice”, Gapjumpers is a software solution that features customized, skills-based assessments which companies such as Google and Dolby use to “audition” candidates’ talents as opposed to screening resumes. Candidates’ identifying factors such as gender and race are masked throughout the steps, resulting in a selection process designed to be based on applicant abilities alone. Gapjumpers levels the field by referencing that 59% of top performers in these assessments are women, which the site points out is contrary to what is the common perception, especially in technical fields.
Textio & Gender Decoder for Job Ads: Textio is an augmented writing platform used by companies such as Apple and Microsoft. Using analysis of more than 10 million job posts a month, Textio aids in writing more appealing and gender-neutral job descriptions. Employers upload job descriptions into a tool that highlights words considered too masculine or too feminine, and provides suggested alternative language. It also offers a score at the end, and stresses strengths and weaknesses regarding the description. The site reports that clients with a high score on the platform recruit 25% more qualified applicants and 23% more women.
Gender Decoder for Job Ads: is similar to Textio but a bit more simplistic. A research paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in July, 2011, identified words as “masculine” or “feminine”. When a job description is uploaded, The Gender Decoder provides an analysis and evaluates it for language that would turn a specific gender away.
Hiring Bias is an issue that has pervaded culture for a long time. By applying some of these tools to your recruiting process, not only could your work culture improve enormously, but you could find a quality employee that would have otherwise been in the rejection pile.
Other related blogs that may be of interest are: Finding “The One” and “One Size Fits All?”
About Talencio: We help the Health Technology community make progress by putting the right people in the right place to solve problems and identify opportunities to move healthcare forward. To learn more about career opportunities in health technology, or to hear how other companies have partnered with Talencio to tap into our skilled professional talent pool, contact us at 612.703.4236 or email. Talencio has been the preferred provider of vetted, accomplished professionals to the Health Technology Community for over 9 years.
Written by: Isaac Pirk, Talencio intern and student at North Central University, Minneapolis, MN.
Sources:
How Many Thoughts Does Your Mind Think in One Hour